In-Situ XPS Studies of Thin Silicon Nitride Films on III–V Semiconductors Produced by Remote Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition

Abstract

Increasing attention is being given to silicon nitride as a suitable dielectric for microelectronic devices based upon metal-insulator-(III–V) semiconductor structures because of its high dielectric constant and good diffusion barrier properties (1). To fabricate such devices it is necessary to deposit a high quality dielectric layer onto a clean, defect-free III–V surface in a way that minimizes the number of interfacial defects produced which can act as charge carrier traps and seriously degrade performance.